Top Freelancing Hotspots: Where Do You Like To Work?

In the middle of a very big deadline project, my Internet went out today. And it stayed out for hours.

In nearly five years of freelancing, I’ve learned one thing: Don’t wait it out when this happens. The more urgent the deadline, the longer it’ll take for your Internet provider to get things up and running again.

So I went to Plan B and raced out to a nearby Starbucks to keep working. I had to do two school pickups in the middle of the day, racing down the sidewalk with my laptop, because of a weird last-week-of-school schedule. Luckily, my four kids hadn’t eaten yet, so the Bistro boxes, which include a little square of chocolate in addition to lunch, bought me time to concentrate. Finally, my husband got back from an appointment and brought everyone home…so I could stay there and keep working until I finished what I had to do, hours later.

It wasn’t an ideal way to work, and I was so stressed out I forgot to put money in the parking meter and got a ticket (probably catching the eye of the police because, in my frazzled rush, I parked my van with the sliding door wide open. Argh!!). But I got the job done.

Would I have rather finished everything early and spent the whole afternoon celebrating the last day of school with my kids? Yes! But things didn’t work out that way. Fortunately, the daylight hours are long in these late days of June, and, when we made it out to the park in the early evening, the sprinklers were still on, and my kids still had fun getting soaked with their friends.

And now I know I’ve got a pretty good place to work if my Internet, that vital connection to the freelance economy, starts flickering again. I found Starbucks a great place to work: not only did the Wifi work just outside the store, but helpful young employees got me set up with the connection.

Elizabeth’s backup location of choice is Panera, which also has strong free wifi. We’ve heard Barnes & Noble is a good option, too. Anybody want to mention others?

1 comment

I’m enjoying my meals more because I am not “dieting” by itself. We have cut out white foods generally speaking (no bread or rice or pasta) on the other hand am eating when needed, and thoroughly enjoying it. Small meals mostly, on the other hand eat till I’m satisfied, drink mostly water and green tea herb too. I’ve been carrying this out for the week . 5, that i’m down by 5 lbs. It’s been easy, I do not feel deprived, therefor I understand I can eat like this and stay happy, and lose weight too! YAAAAAAAAYY!!